The National League East has an abundance of arms and four of the top starting rotations in all of baseball.
How good is the pitching in the NL East? So good that four of the top seven or eight pitching staffs in the majors are members of the NL East. This article will examine each of the five pitching staffs in the NL East.
1. Philadelphia Phillies - The Phillies have one of the top rotations in all of baseball. The Phillies—led the majors with a 3.02 ERA in 2011—feature two-time CY Young award winner Roy Halladay, three-time all-star and CY Young award winner Cliff Lee as well as well as two-time all-star Cole Hamels atop of their rotation. The other two spots will be filled by veteran Joe Blanton and 24-year old Vance Worley. Since the Phillies don't want to go with lefties on consecutive days, Blanton's starts will come in-between Lee and Hamels.
2. Miami Marlins - The Marlins rotation is set as ace Josh Johnson will start the opener on April 4 and will be followed by Mark Buehrle, Ricky Nolasco, Carlos Zambrano and Anibal Sanchez. As long as Johnson—missed the majority of the 2011 season with inflammation in his right shoulder—remains healthy he is one of the most dominant pitchers in the game. Buehrle—has won at least 10 games and thrown over 200 innings in each of the last 11 seasons—gives the Marlins a crafty left-hander in the rotation. Nolasco is wildly inconsistent though he has won at least 10 games the last three seasons. Zambrano—had an inconsistent spring this year—must keep his emotions in check as he can blow-up at any moment. Sanchez is a little behind the rest of the rotation in terms of stamina as a result of missing time due to soreness in his right shoulder.
3. Washington Nationals -The Nationals overhauled their starting rotation as four of the five pitchers in the rotation were not there at the beginning of 2011. At the top of Washington's will be right-hander Stephen Strasburg—appeared in just five games in 2011 after undergoing Tommy John Surgery —, newly acquired left-hander Gio Gonzalez and free-agent signee Edwin Jackson—has recorded 12 wins the past four seasons. 25-year old Jordan Zimmerman—has potential to be a very good number two starter in the future - is the fourth starter while John Lannan—led the team in wins in 2011—beat out Chien-Ming Wang and Ross Detwiler for the fifth spot.
4. Atlanta Braves - The Braves have some issues with their rotation as ace right-hander Tim Hudson will miss the first month of the season after having back surgery in November and Tommy Hanson—the Braves number three starter—has just pitched in two spring training games since August 6 due to shoulder issues though he has looked pretty good in both of his spring outings. The rest of the rotation will be filled by number two starter Jair Jurrijens—has had a poor spring - and youngsters Mike Minor, Brandon Beechy, Randall Delgado and Julio Teheran. 25-year old Beechy—had a superb rookie season where he went 7-3 with a 3.68 ERA and 169 strikeouts in 142.2 innings—while 24-year old Minor—entering his third year with the Braves—has been almost unhittable in five spring starts as he has posted a 0.96 ERA in 18.2 innings. 22 year -old Delgado—was roughed up by Toronto in his last spring start—appears to still be the favorite to land the fifth spot until Hudson is ready to return though 21-year old Teheran could still claim the spot.
5. New York Mets - The Mets starting rotation posted a division worst 4.19 ERA last year though that should improve with the return of ace Johan Santana—missed the entire 2011 season with shoulder issues—and a better performance from number two starter Mike Pelfrey. Santana has shown some encouraging signs this spring particularly in his last start when he struck out six batters while only allowing three hits in six innings against St. Louis on March 21. The rest of the rotation will include John Niese—coming off his best major league season —, 36-year old knuckleballer R.A. Dickey—has been very good since joining the Mets three seasons ago—and Dillon Gee. Although Chris Swinden still has an outside chance at the number five spot.
Daniel Benjamin has followed the Marlins since the clubs inception in 1993.
Source:
MLB.com
Note: This article was written by a Yahoo! contributor. Sign up here to start publishing your own sports content.
No comments:
Post a Comment